Irish feature film ‘Songs for Amy’ has been awarded the ‘Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking’ prize at the Newport Beach Film Festival in California. The film, which received its US premiere at the festival last Tuesday, also ranked fourth out of 400 films on the audience ratings at the festival.

BAFTA and Emmy-nominated director Konrad Begg (Top Gear) spoke of his delight at receiving the award saying: “It is a great honour to win the award on behalf of the cast and crew and it’s fantastic to get the recognition from the jury at Newport Beach.”

The director added: “It was great to see the film play to an American audience and I was overwhelmed by the response – both screenings sold out! They really got the humour and emotion of the film. It couldn’t have gone better.”

The darkly comedic love story was filmed in Galway and New York and stars Irish actor Kevin Ryan (Raw, Copper), Sean Maguire (Meet the Spartans), James Cosmo (Sons of Anarchy), Lorna Anderson (River City), Gavin Mitchell (You Instead) and Patrick Bergin (Sleeping with the Enemy).

Produced and written by Fiona Graham for Sonny & Skye Productions and Seafaring films, ‘Songs for Amy’ follows Sean (Maguire), a tormented Irish musician who writes an album for the love of his life, Amy (Anderson). His journey to win her back takes him through love, loss, regret and hope, all with the help and hindrance from his bandmates.

Actors Maguire, Anderson, Ryan and Ross Mac Mahon all attended the US festival, along with Begg, Graham, executive producer Mairi McLellan and musicians Jim McKee and Ultan Conlon, who performed songs from the film’s soundtrack at the festival.